


#5boysinthewoods

by DashFlintceschi



Category: You Me At Six
Genre: Creepy guy in the woods, Dan being a grumpy bastard, M/M, Matt and Max being arseholes, Unrequited Flintceschi, several major character deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 00:38:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1585322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashFlintceschi/pseuds/DashFlintceschi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boys of YMAS head into the woods before recording the next album, but little do they know, they are not alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	#5boysinthewoods

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [#5boysinthewoods](https://archiveofourown.org/works/674478) by [tgrsndshrks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tgrsndshrks/pseuds/tgrsndshrks). 



A large car pulled up in front of a house, the street quiet, at least, until a young man emerged from the house, causing a raucous cheer from the four men in the car, causing many of the street’s occupants to twitch their curtains and frown. It was that Flint boy and his friends again. Making too much noise, most likely making trouble too.

The five young men in the car didn’t care, though; they were too used to Dan’s grumpy neighbours bitching about nothing for it to matter anymore. They were heading in to the woods nearby, to spend some well-earned time off camping, before going into the studio to record the next album, and there was no way those old kill joys were going to ruin their mood.

Before long, they were at the edge of the woods, unloading all their gear from the car.

“Everyone got everything? ‘Cause if you forget anything, I’m not coming back out to get it with you.” Max insisted, locking the car once everyone had confirmed they had everything. With that, they set off along the trail, looking for a decent place to set up.

They’d been walking for a while in relative silence, when Chris cleared his throat.

“Hey, any of you hear the news?” His band mates all made faces as his vague question, and he laughed softly. “Apparently, some kids got slaughtered in these woods a few weeks ago, and they never caught who did it.” 

As one, the other four men stopped walking and gaped at their friend with horrified expressions.

“Why the fuck would you wait until _now_ to tell us that?” Josh demanded, his voice high and breathy with the sudden shock and fear that filled him. Matt suddenly grinned.

“Because the arsehole is fucking with us! He’s trying to scare us so he can laugh at us jumping and freaking out at every tiny little noise.” He laughed, clapping Chris’ shoulder amiably. “Good one, mate, nearly had me, there.” He congratulated, Chris smiling weakly as his friends ‘caught on’ to his ‘joke’. If they felt better thinking it was a joke, he felt no need to burst their bubble.

After about an hour of walking, they found a clearing they deemed useable. It was a good size, didn’t have any fallen trees or debris, was far enough in to the woods that they wouldn’t be disturbed by passing cars, hikers or other campers, yet not far enough in that they would get lost. They quickly set up, putting up tents, making sure the beer was in the cooler, and that the cooler was doing its job, Chris got a fire going, and Max realised he still had a signal on his mobile, so before long, the had #5boysinthewoods trending on Twitter, posting stupid tweets and photos about what they were doing, while their fans tried to get them to divulge their location, or commented on how ‘5 boys in the woods’ sounded like a porno.

Later that night, the trip was going well. They’d had a surprisingly good meal, courtesy of Dan, and were now just chilling around the fire, drinking beer and telling stupid stories. During a lull in the conversation, while Matt was handing out more beer, Josh looked nervously across the fire at Chris.

“You _were_ joking earlier, right? There’s no serial killer roaming around the woods?” He’d looked nervous and jumpy ever since it had started to get dark, and now Chris knew why.

“Of course he was! That shit doesn’t happen in fuckin’ Surrey.” Max snorted, making Josh blush. Chris smiled sympathetically at him and quickly made a decision.

“Yeah, I was joking. Like Max said, that kind of thing doesn’t happen around here.” He consoled him, and Josh relaxed. Chris sighed to himself. Nothing bad could come from his lie, could it? That had been weeks ago, and the police had combed the woods to no avail. If the news story he’d read online was true, the guy was long gone.

Eventually, the fire started to dim, and the slight buzz each of them had was starting to make them sleepy. They all drifted to the tents once Matt had put out the fire, a quiet, barely interested laugh breaking out as Dan stumbled over his own feet. There were two tents, Josh and Dan sharing the smaller tent, while Matt, Chris and Max shared the four-man tent beside it.

The campsite had been quiet for a few hours, minus Dan’s shuddering snores, when Josh bolted up in his sleeping bag, looking around blearily, his hand reaching over to grip Dan’s arm, shaking it franticly until his snores faltered and he groaned, pushing Josh’s hand away.

“Bugger off. M’sleepin’.” He mumbled, groaning again as Josh’s hand returned to shake him. 

Finally, he sat up with a tired huff and glared at Josh.

“Th-there’s someone outside. I can here them moving around.” It was then that Dan noticed Josh’s frantic eyes and the way he had his arms wrapped around himself, hands rubbing his shoulders in an attempt to comfort himself. Unfortunately, though, Dan was too tired to be sympathetic.

“It’s just one of the guys trying to find a decent tree to take a piss against. Calm the fuck down and go back to sleep.” Dan grouched, ignoring the panic that had appeared in Josh’s eyes as he lay back down.

He was just about to doze off, when Josh’s hand landed on his shoulder again.

“Dan, it’s there again, can’t you hear it?” Josh whispered, and Dan sighed, contemplating making Josh sleep outside as he sat back up.

“Yeah, I hear it. Whoever it is has obviously found a tree and now they’re going back to the tent.” Josh didn’t calm down, though, and Dan sighed again, unzipping his sleeping bag as he felt around for his jeans. “Fine, I’ll go look. But I’m telling you, all I’ll find is one of them coming back to the tents.” With that, he stood up, unzipped the tent and stepped out, Josh peeking out of the flap after him.

He pointedly went over to the other tent and unzipped it, sticking his head in. He scanned the darkness within, and felt himself pale. Stretched out, sleeping peacefully, were his three remaining band mates, showing no sign what-so-ever that any of them had moved since they’d went to bed.

He quickly came back out, zipped the tent back up, and froze. The same sound that Josh had woken him up for, footsteps and the rustling of bushes and branches being pushed out of the way. It was all around him, coming from all sides. He almost ran back to the tent, pushing Josh in and diving in himself, zipping it up and scrambling around for his bag, pulling out one of the small padlocks they’d decided not to use and hooked it through the two zip tags, breathing a sigh as it clicked closed.

He looked around and found Josh staring at him in horror, chewing his lip anxiously.

“It wasn’t the guys, was it?” He asked softly, and Dan worked to calm himself down. A freaked out Josh Franceschi was not something he could deal with in the middle of the night, especially not in the middle of the woods.

“No, it was some other campers. They looked a little dodgy, though. Better safe than sorry, eh?” He forced himself to smile and sound unfazed, but Josh didn’t look convinced. Somehow, Dan managed to get Josh to calm down, more or less, and they both crawled back into their sleeping bags. Although the noises stopped a few minutes later, sleep eluded both of them for the rest of the night.

Morning dawned bleak and grey, and Dan and Josh were out of their tent long before the others were. By the time Matt, Max and Chris stumbled out of the tent, Dan had the fire going again, and Josh had made sure the old, rickety kettle they’d gotten from Matt’s dad was full of boiled water and several tea bags, steeping quietly on a pile of embers at the side of the fire pit to ensure it didn’t go cold.

As each of them sat down around the fire, shivering in the cold morning air and huddling close to the fire, Josh filled travel mugs with tea and handed them out, topping up his and Dan’s at the same time.

“How come you guys are up so early?” Matt asked after he’d taken several gulps of tea, sighing contentedly as the heat seeped into his bones.

“Josh got freaked out by some other campers during the night, so of course, he woke me up and got me freaked out.” Dan griped, making Josh blush partly from guilt, but mostly from the way the other three stared at him.

“Funny, I could have sworn all those times I walked in on you in the shower, you had balls.” Max mused, Matt laughing with him as Josh’s blush darkened further and he lowered his eyes, only just catching the sympathetic smile Chris gave him.

They spent most of the day discussing the songs they’d already written for the new album, which needed improving, whether they should scrap certain songs altogether, whether they should add any songs to the short-list. Just after noon, Matt stood up, stretching with a groan as his back popped a few times.

“Off for a piss, won’t be long.” He announced, strolling off into the trees. He wandered around for a few minutes, until he found a nice private spot behind a tree that looked like it could do with being watered.

He zipped up and started to make his way back to the campsite, still chuckling to himself at his own crap joke. He was half way back, when he heard rustling off to one side, a branch snapping underfoot.  
“Hello?” He called out, scanning the surrounding trees, but no answer came. “Very funny guys! I’m terrified. Come out now.” He called again, but still no answer. He shrugged it off, assuming it was an animal.

Max checked his watch with a huff and looked around.

“What the fuck is taking him so long? If he was going for a shit, he wouldn’t have hesitated to make damn sure we all knew.” He grouched, and Dan snorted.

“Idiot probably got lost.” He laughed, slouching back in his chair. “Fuck it, let him find his own way back.” He announced, taking a swig of his tea with a grin as the others laughed.

By seven o’clock, there was still no sign of Matt, and they were starting to worry. Well, Josh had been in a state of near panic since half one, but he’d done his best to hide it as the hours passed. He wasn’t about to be ridiculed again any time soon, not if he could help it. 

Once the others started worrying, though, he felt justified in suggesting going looking for him.

“Oh, yeah, then we can all be lost in the middle of fucking nowhere.” Max snapped, but Josh let it go. Instead, he went over to his bag and pulled out five rolls of orange tape.

“Glow in the dark, biodegradable trail marker. We can take one each and mark the trees as we go, so if any of us get lost, we just need to find a tree with tape on it and follow it back to camp.” He reasoned, the other three nodding with impressed expressions.

“All right, we’ll take some tape each and split up-” 

“No! We should stay together, or search in pairs.” Josh cut Dan off, colouring as they all looked at him, and he expected more ridicule to come his way.

“I agree with Josh, he might be hurt, it could take two of us to carry him back.” Chris reasoned, and Josh sighed in relief.

“Fine, you two stick together, we’ll split up. Meet back here in an hour, if none of us have found him, we’ll get the police in.” Max compromised, and once they’d all agreed, and Josh handed out tape to them all, they headed off, Chris and Josh going west, the direction Matt had left in, while Dan headed north and Max went south. They’d agreed against east, since that led out of the woods and back to the car, so there was very little chance they’d find him in that direction.

Josh and Chris walked along in silence, taking turns at sticking a length of tape to every third tree they passed.

“You lied, didn’t you? About it being a joke.” Josh whispered eventually, and Chris sighed.

“How d’you figure me out?” He whispered back, still straining his ears in case Matt was hurt, calling out for help.

“You always look so uncomfortable when you lie. You didn’t when you first told us about it, and you did when you told me last night that it was a joke. That, and you wouldn’t have been so quick to agree to stick together if you didn’t think there was something to be scared of.” Josh reasoned, and Chris sighed again.

“At first, I only told you guys for a laugh, to freak you out. I mean, it is true, but it was weeks ago, and the police searched the whole forest, and most of Surrey for him. I didn’t think there was any chance he’d still be here. But… With what you guys heard last night, and now Matt’s missing… I don’t know what to think.” He whispered, and Josh nodded, discreetly edging closer to Chris, smiling gratefully when Chris noticed and grabbed hold of his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

They walked along in silence for a few more minutes, other than the hiss of the tape as it was pulled from the roll. Finally, Josh sighed, bumping his shoulder against Chris’.

“You’re my best friend, y’know that? I mean, all four of you are, but you’re my best friend, out of my best friends, if that makes sense.” He turned to Chris with a confused frown, which relaxed when Chris laughed softly and nodded to show he understood. “I think it’s ‘cause I can tell you anything, and I know you won’t laugh like the others might.” He pressed on, feeling the determination he’d built up start to dwindle.

“And… There’s something you want to tell me, that you think the others might laugh at you for?” Chris asked, sensing his best friend needed a push.

“Yeah… I’ve- I’ve never told anyone before…” He paused, taking a deep breath as he decided to just blurt it out. “I’m gay.” He gusted out, sighing in relief when Chris didn’t instantly renounce or shun him.

He started to worry, though, when Chris didn’t say anything for several minutes. Chris turned from his contemplation of this new information, and started at the crushed look on Josh’s face, quickly slinging his arm around his friend’s shoulders and pulling him close.

“Hey, it’s fine. I think I always knew, on some level. Probably something to do with all those looks you keep giving Dan.” He teased gently, and Josh grinned even as he blushed.

“You’ve seen him, can you blame me?” He asked with a laugh, Chris grinning with him.

“So, any lucky guys I should be demanding to meet?” He teased, and Josh frowned, eyes dropping to the ground, even as he reached up to stick tape to the next tree.

“I think that’s why I always struggled to tell you guys. I knew I’d never live down being a 22-year-old virgin ‘cause I’ve held a torch for my straight best friend since I was 15.” He sighed, relaxing slightly as Chris’ arm tightened around him.

“Well hey, if there is a serial killer in these woods, horror movie law says you’ll be the one to get out of here alive, so…” It was stupid and he knew it, but it was the only thing he could think of to cheer Josh up, and thankfully it worked, to the point where they had to stop as Josh doubled over, deep belly laughs echoing all around them as they fell from him uncontrollably.

He had just calmed down, leaning on his knees to catch his breath as he wiped the tears from his eyes, when a surprised, pained cry sounded from their right, cutting off suddenly. They both looked at each other in fear.

“Dan.” They confirmed in unison, then turned in the direction it had come from and started running. Josh, a few steps behind Chris, had the realisation that they would still need to get back to camp, possibly with an injured Dan, who may have stumbled or fallen away from his own trail. 

Noticing that Chris was sprinting as hard as he could, and that either way, Dan would be getting help as soon as possible, Josh slowed down, making sure to keep Chris in his sight, and started quickly pulling strips of tape from the roll, sticking them to as many trees as he could without slowing down.

He was so busy trying to run, pull, stick, and watch Chris, that he didn’t realise that Chris had stopped running until he slammed into his back. He quickly grabbed the back of Chris’ t-shirt with one hand as the other gripped a branch of a near-by tree, barely managing to steady them both.

“Sorry, did you find him?” Josh gasped out, letting him go once he’d steadied himself.

“Not quite.” Chris replied, his voice wavering slightly, nodding towards the ground in front of them.

Josh looked to where Chris had indicated, and felt fear rise in him so quickly it made him dizzy. On the ground in front of them, were a torch, a roll of glow in the dark tape, and a lanyard with seven keys and a keyring clipped to it. Josh didn’t need to look closer to know that it was an Aston Villa keyring, and that the lanyard was custom made. It was light blue, and had the Down But Not Out logo and the words _‘Daniel David Flint - The Original Sinner’_ stitched into it. Josh had given it to him for his birthday in March, and he hadn’t seen Dan without it since. Now, it was on the ground, in a large puddle of blood that Josh prayed wasn’t Dan’s.

He inched over, making sure not to step in the pool of blood, carefully leaned over and gently plucked the lanyard from the ground, pulling a tissue from his pocket and doing his best to get all of the blood from it.

“I’m not sure you should have done that, J.” Chris told him softly, and Josh felt himself tense up.

“He’s going to want it back when we find him.” Josh defended, and Chris sighed.

“I don’t think-”

“He’ll want it back when we find him.” Josh snarled, not turning around, and Chris slumped slightly in defeat, cautiously curling his arm around Josh’s shoulders, relieved when the tension left his friend and Josh sagged against him.

“You’re right, he never goes anywhere without it. He’ll want it back.” Chris conceded, squeezing Josh’s shoulders to comfort him.

They stood for a few minutes, clinging to each other for comfort as they tried to chase away the idea that they might not find Dan or Matt. Finally, they both visibly pulled themselves together, and pulled away. Chris cleared his throat.

“We should head back to camp to meet Max. He might have found Matt, and if not, I think this is proof that we should stay together.” He decided, and Josh nodded, not quite trusting his voice just yet.

They turned and had only taken a few steps, when a noise made them freeze. A soft, agonised, high-pitched whine a few feet away. They looked at each other, Josh nodding as Chris shook his head.

“It’s just an injured animal.” He whispered, and Josh rolled his eyes.

“It could be Dan.” He hissed back softly, and Chris shook his head again.

“When have you ever heard him make that noise?” He asked, but before he could stop him, Josh turned and headed through the trees towards the noise.

Chris followed, moving as quickly as possible while still staying silent. This time, it was Chris’ turn to slam into Josh’s back as he stopped dead, and instantly, Josh reached up and behind himself, silently pressing a hand against Chris’ mouth before he could say anything.

They’d stopped on the edge of a clearing. In the centre of it was an indiscernible shape, moving in an oddly rhythmic way, an odd squelching sound accompanying the whine that had drawn them in the first place. Suddenly, a seemingly small, thin part of the shape shot up from the ground, gripping a higher up part, and the whine changed.

“Please… Please don’t.” It was the same pitch and tone as the whine, but it was undeniably the voice of Daniel Flint. Josh finally realised what he was seeing, and before he could stop it, a heart broken sob bubbled up and out.

The shape moved, leaving Dan slumped on the ground, rising to its feet and turning towards Josh and Chris. It stood there for a few seconds, simply staring, then its teeth glinted in the small amount of moon light that filtered through the trees.

“It’s not your turn yet.” A harsh voice told them, and then the shape was gone, vanished like smoke.

Josh didn’t even have to think about it, didn‘t feel any fear. As soon as the shape was gone, he ran to where Dan lay, fumbling desperately for the torch he’d hung from his belt. He finally found it and switched it on, not realising until then that Dan was grasping desperately at his hoodie.

“It’s ok, it’s ok, baby, we’re going to get you out of here, you’re going to be ok.” He tried to soothe, running his fingers through Dan’s bloody, matted hair, but he continued grasping and tugging Josh’s hoodie, gasping desperately.

“Promise…” He wheezed, his eyes fluttering rapidly.

“Anything. I’ll promise you anything, just as long as you stay awake, please.” Josh begged, and Dan’s eyes fluttered open again.

“Promise you’ll take care of mum and Sarah, please, you have to promise me.” He wheezed, and Josh felt the tears spill over and streak down his face.

“I don’t have to. You’re going to be ok. We’ll get you out of here, I promise.” He sobbed, refusing to look at the mess that was once Dan’s abdomen.

Dan shook his head, that heart breaking whine bubbling wetly again.

“Please, I need you to promise.” His voice was fading, growing soft and wavering, but his eyes stayed wide, boring pleadingly into Josh’s.

“I promise. I promise, I’ll take care of them until you’re better, until you can get back to taking care of them yourself.” Josh finally whispered, his own voice wavering and cracking.

Dan gave him a soft, indulgent smile, changing the subject instead of arguing.

“I knew. I always knew. I just… I’ve always loved you, but not in the way you wanted me to. I’m sorry I couldn’t.” He rasped, his fingers slipping from Josh’s hoodie as his eyes fluttered closed and his wheezing breaths stuttered to a stop.

“It’s ok, it’s ok, just come back and I’ll never bring it up. I’ll never make you feel guilty. Just please come back… Come back…” Chris laid his hand on Josh’s back, tears of his own staining his face.

“He’s gone, J. I’m sorry, I don’t want him to be either, but… He’s gone.” 

 

When Josh didn’t reply, Chris moved his hands to Josh’s shoulders and started to pull him back.

“Come on, J, we have to go get Max.” He urged softly, and Josh nodded, but before he went, he slid from Chris’ grasp and lent back down, stroking Dan’s once fluffy brown hair reverently as he pressed a gentle kiss to Dan’s slack, quickly cooling lips.

“I love you. I’ll always love you.” He sobbed softly, then pressed soft kisses to each of Dan’s eyelids, pressed his beloved lanyard into his hand, gently curling his fingers around it, and stood up, allowing Chris to pull him into his arms, doing his best to comfort him.

Seconds later, though, Josh pulled away with a horrified look on his face.

“He said it wasn’t our turn… Max.” He gasped, and Chris paled. Without another word, they grabbed hands and rushed back to the path. When they got back to the pool of blood, Josh stopped and tugged on Chris’ hand, stopping him too. He let go of his hand and pulled the roll of tape from his pocket, making a large arrow across three trees, pointing towards the clearing they’d left Dan in.

He turned back and found Chris frowning in confusion.

“For when we come back with the police. Michelle and Sarah are going to want to say goodbye.” Josh whispered, and Chris nodded, gripping Josh’s hand tightly and tugging him towards the last marker Dan had managed to leave.

Once they’d edged around the pool of blood, they started sprinting along the trail, keeping their eyes ahead of where they were, always watching for the next marker, in case the path Dan had taken suddenly swerved away from the one they were on. The whole time, their hands stayed tightly clasped, and in record time, they were back at the camp, gasping for breath and almost sobbing in relief at the sight of Max sitting beside the fire, his worried frown easing at the sight of them.

“Thank god. I didn’t find Matt, and Dan hasn’t come… Why are you covered in blood?” He asked, fear lighting in his eyes as he spoke.

“Dan’s gone. We were too late. We are not splitting up again.” Chris tried to stay strong, even as his eyes filled with tears again.

They decided then, that they wouldn’t go back out looking for Matt. Instead, they were making a break for the car. They went quickly, forming a crocodile. Chris at the front, shining the torch ahead of himself, Josh in the middle, still too inconsolable to do anything but run, and Max at the back, his whole right arm covered in half stuck strips of tape, so he could just catch one on a tree to detach it, instead of letting go of Josh and potentially separating himself from the group.

They’d been running for ten minutes, when Josh felt Max’s hand rip out of his own, a sharp yelp filling the air, and they both slowed to a stop, scanning the trees.

“What happened?” Chris asked quickly, and Josh sobbed.

“I don’t know. He was there, and then he was just… Gone.” He stammered, sobbing softly as Chris’ torch caught the last strip of tape Max had put up, and the dark smear of blood that marred it.

Instantly, Chris turned off the torch and gripped Josh’s hand tighter than ever.

“Forget the tape. I’m leaving the torch off, all it does is tell him where we are. Move quickly, don’t make a sound and _don’t let go of my hand_.” He whispered quickly, and with a shared nod, they both started sprinting again, running harder than ever before.

After what felt like an age, Chris gasped.

“I can see it! I can see the road, and the back of the car!” He panted, running that little bit faster. They were ten feet away from it, when a dark shape sprang from the trees, tackling Chris with enough force to rip his hand from Josh’s, their reluctance to part making Josh’s wrist bend back and snap sickeningly several times. He clutched it to his chest as he scanned the trees desperately for his last remaining brother.

“Josh run! Fucking r-” Chris’ frantic voice was cut off with a wet gurgle and a splatter, and without thinking, Josh went to obey Chris’ last request, readying himself to bolt the last ten feet, when a now familiar dark shape appeared in his path, teeth gleaming as he gave Josh a feral grin.

Josh started to slowly back up, too scared to take his eyes off of the shape and flee. The grin widened, and the shape leaned forward.

“Run, pretty boy.” Was all it took for Josh to let out a weak whimper, turn on his heel and sprint back into the trees, too scared to notice the absence of anyone chasing.

He ran aimlessly until his lungs refused to let him go any further, and he lent against a tree, gasping for air as loudly as he dared. He finally caught his breath, and went to stand straight again, when a massive, calloused, filthy hand wrapped around his throat, pulling him back against the tree.

“Practice over, pretty little thing. Time for the real race.” A voice hissed in his ear, before a wet, hot tongue slid up his cheek, and the hand vanished.

Resolving to vomit and peel the skin from his cheek later, Josh staggered away from the tree, ready to launch himself into the trees again, when he saw something in the corner of his eye. He turned and saw his large, glow in the dark arrow. Without a second thought, he started trampling through the undergrowth towards it. If he was going to die in these woods, he was going to see his baby one last time before he did.

When he entered the clearing, he felt bile quickly rise in his throat, but quickly swallowed it. It looked nothing like it had before. Dan was still lying where Josh had left him, but now, his intestines had been carefully removed from his abdominal cavity and was threaded all around his body in a strange pattern. Directly across from Josh was Matt, hanging from a tree by the knife in his throat. To Matt’s left was Max, tied upright to a tree, his rib-cage hanging open, his lungs hanging precariously from the hole and his heart rammed in his mouth, it looked like the beast hunting them hand broken Max’s jaw to make it fit. Directly across from Max, Chris was slumped against a tree, his eyes still wide in fear, his throat slashed. The worst part was the thing forced into the tear in his throat, but if the dark stain on the front of Chris’ jeans was anything to go by, Josh wasn’t going to be investigating further.

He walked slowly around the clearing, carefully kissing each of his brothers on the forehead, saving Dan for last and giving him an extra kiss on his now icy lips.

“I won’t give up. I will get out of here. I’ll get us all out of here, I promise.” He whispered to the clearing, then slipped into the trees. 

This time, instead of running noisily and tellingly through the trees, he moved slowly, carefully, listening for any tiny noise as he stealthily worked his way back to the campsite, then around it, following Max’s strips towards the car. He was almost there, parallel to the last place he saw Chris, when he heard crashing behind him, and a loud cackle.

“Come out, come out, pretty boy!” The beast cackled, but Josh listened carefully, and realised he was too far away to catch him before he got to the car, and that he was crashing aimlessly, not directly towards him, he clearly didn’t know where Josh was, he was trying to scare Josh into giving away his location.

Keeping a careful ear out for the beast, he continued forward slowly and silently, breathing a sigh of relief as the crashing faded into the distance. The beast was going deeper into the woods, away from Josh. Finally, there was only one line of trees between Josh and Max’s car. He fumbled to get the keys from his pocket silently before he moved. He’d felt horrible taking the keys from Max’s pocket before he left the clearing, but what choice did he have?

He listened intently, and after over a minute of complete silence, tensed, and sprang through the trees towards the car. As soon as he left the safety of the trees, strong arms wrapped around him. He started screaming, thrashing and biting at the arms around him.

“Woah, woah, kid, kid, you’re safe now, calm down!” A strong voice soothed, cradling him as he calmed down slowly, hushing him as he was rocked back and forth.

As Josh was starting to calm down, a terrifying thought occurred to him. What if it was the beast, fucking with him one last time before he killed him? He jumped away from the comforting presence. His eyes shot up the other man, but stopped on the Surrey Police uniform, before moving up to the gentle, concerned green eyes.

It was then that Josh looked around and noticed the dozens of police cars and officers that surrounded them, the helicopter overhead ready to search the woods. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by screaming. He looked around and found the beast, seven officers dragging him handcuffed from the woods as he screamed and raved.

Once the beast was gone, chained down in the back of a riot van, Josh turned back to the officer, jumping at the sudden appearance of a paramedic at the officer’s side.

“I’ll take you to the… The bodies.” He gulped, but the officer shook his head with a kind, sympathetic smile.

“Nah, lad, you’ve done enough, been through too much already. Go with Michael here, we can handle it.” He told Josh, but Josh shook his head in return.

“Please, I have to do this. I… I promised them I’d get them out of there. Please.” He begged, the two looked at each other, and the paramedic, Michael, shrugged.

“Physically, he seems fine, apart from that wrist. It’s your call.” He told the officer, who sighed and nodded.

“Alright, lad, a promise is a promise. Let’s go.” He relented, placing a comforting hand on Josh’s shoulder as they led a team of officers and paramedics with body bags and stretchers on to the path.

Time seemed to pass in a blur, as he quickly followed Max’s tape path back to their campsite, then easily finding Dan’s path on the north side of the camp. As they walked along it, a thought occurred to Josh, and he turned to the kind eyed officer at his side.

“How did you know where we were? That we needed help?” He asked softly, and the officer grimaced.

“It seems that when he murdered your friends, he was taking there mobile phones, uploading tweets under the hash tag ‘5 boys in the woods’, describing in detail what he’d done to each of them, he posted a few photos of the corpses too. Once she realised you boys weren’t playing an elaborate prank, Sarah Flint contacted us. We managed to trace the phones to this location.”

As the officer finished explaining, Josh turned away to hide his sickened expression, and found himself face to face with his giant arrow. He quickly led them along the path, then stood to the side of it as they took photographs and evidence, then carefully transferred each corpse to a body bag and loaded it onto a stretcher.

As each of his brothers passed him, Josh gave them a sad smile and a small salute.

“I got you out, just like I promised.” He whispered as the last stretcher, Max, passed him, and another, younger, officer gently led him out behind them.


End file.
